Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 116 1965 Number 3506 



REVIEW OF THE GENUS CERCERIS 



IN AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO 



(HYMENOPTERA: SPHECIDAE) 



By Herman A. Scullen ' 



Introduction 



The wasp tribe Cercerini as recognized in this country (Muesebeck, 

 Krombein, and Townes, 1951) consists of the two genera Cerceris Latreille 

 (1802) and Eucerceris Cresson (1865). The former is well represented 

 in aU continental areas while the latter is limited to North America. 



The earUest references to the genus Cerceris in North America were 

 by Thomas Say when he published descriptions of the following species : 

 jrontata Say (1823), deserta Say (1825) , fumipennis Say, (1837) and 

 sexta Say (1837). Numerous species have been described since the 

 publications of Say. In 1865 E. T. Cresson monographed the Family 

 Philanthidea of North America, which at that time included the 

 genus Cerceris and the new genus Eucercens. Cresson published over 

 20 papers relating to Cercerini and described a total of 20 species 

 recorded from north of the Mexican border. In 1912 Nathan Banks 

 published his first paper on the genus Cerceris. This was followed by 

 eleven additional papers. In all, Banks described 52 species of 



1 Professor Emeritus, Department of Entomology, Oregon State University, 

 Corvallis, Oreg. Grants from General Research (Research Paper no. 469) under 

 the Graduate School and from the National Science Foundation have assisted in 

 these studies. 



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